Page 17 of One Little Chance
What am I doing? Classic Sophia running ahead without stopping to think. All action, no plan.
I started to back down the slick sidewalk, the sky a stormy gray. I’d forgotten a coat and my skin felt raw in the winter cold. I walked back to my car, reaching for the keys I’d dropped in my purse seconds before but couldn’t find them.
How could I have lost my keys in mere seconds?I stood outside my car digging in my purse.
“Sophia?” Said a light, soft voice I knew as well as my own mother’s. I turned to find Jordan’s mom, Pat. “You came,” she said, like it was a good thing, a right choice. She walked toward me, arms open and pulled me tight against her.
“Of course, I did.” My voice was wobbly.
She leaned out of the hug an inch to look at my face. Her hazel eyes were the same as Jordan’s but with a few new laugh lines. “Jordan’s a mess. We’re all a mess. What are we… Well, we weren’t ready.”
I shook my head. “I’m so sorry.” Then I realized I’d shown up empty-handed. No meal or flowers. “Oh, my arms are empty. I didn’t bring?—”
“No, no, your arms are full already.” She squeezed my shoulders in our embrace. “They’ll be full all day. I was about to leave to run an errand, but come in.”
She led me up the front steps under their big white covered porch. She pushed open a red door that I’d helped paint in elementary school.
The entryway was airy and open, leading into the living room. The house was full of people as I walked inside, the smell of baked goods and flowers filled the air. I glanced around the house, through the open space living room that spread into the kitchen…until I spotted him.
Jordan was leaning against the kitchen bar talking with his sister. Gray sweatpants and wool socks, bed head. Like he’d found out and came straight to his parent’s place. I’d known exactly where to find him.
“Jordan,” I said. My voice was tight as I bridged the gap between us. He stopped his conversation when he heard my voice, immediately standing straight and looking for me. When his eyes hooked into mine, something between us crumbled.
“Sophie.” His voice cracked as he made his way toward me.
“Jordan,” I said again, wrapping my arms around him. His height required him to lean down into me. He held me so close I was pulled onto my toes. The embrace was tight, warm, needy. I rubbed his back the way I knew he found comforting. He buried his head in my dark hair, hot breath against my neck.
Minutes passed. People talked around us. The doorbell rang. Their old family dog came and sniffed my shoes and left, but we stayed embraced. When we pulled apart, I stumbled on my feet.
“I didn’t even have to…” His voice trailed off.
“I rushed over the minute I heard the news. I didn’t even think twice…”Didn’t even stop to brush my hair.“Jordan, I’m so sorry.”
He took in a jagged breath. “She had a full life. A good one, too. I just think we all…”
“You all feel what you feel,” I offered.
He sighed and his shoulders relaxed as he said, “Yeah, that.”
Jordan wrapped his hand around my wrist and led me through the living room into the kitchen where his sisters,brother, and dad were standing around lost in conversation, eyes downcast.
“Sophia’s here,” Jordan said gently, somewhere between an announcement and a heads-up.
His sisters both jerked their heads up.
Jenna’s mouth fell open slightly, before she said, “Well, hi.”
“It’s been a while,” Sarah, his sister, added, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I know—” I started.
“She’s only been back in town for a couple months,” Jordan said, his voice strong as armor.
“It means a lot you’d come over here, even after all this time.” Carson, his dad, crossed the kitchen to wrap me up in a bear hug.
“You were one of Nana’s favorite people. After you, um, left town, I don’t think she ever stopped telling stories about you. Like the time you got out there and beat all of us boy cousins at flag football,” Cody, his brother, threw in from his spot slouched against the marbled kitchen counter. Jordan’s dad pulled out of our hug, standing beside me in front of the sink.
“Nothing Nana loved more than seeing someone put me in my place,” Jordan said with a halfhearted chuckle.
